large fonts make many dialogs unusable, need to kill process to escape

ET99 · September 3

With my poor vision, text is too small and when using large fonts options dialogs are off screen and if i forget to shift to small fonts before using, i end up having to kill quicken since there's no way to abort or close a dialog. Even the close box (upper right corner) is off screen and the title bar to move the dialog to a second monitor is offscreen.

Is there a keyboard shortcut that will close any dialog box? I've tried escape, tab/ok, etc. Some, like the dialogs to activate an account for downloading are impossible to close. The continue button is offscreen in that case.

Chris_QPW · September 3

Alt+F4 will close the dialog.

But I will note that the most likely reason you are having this problem is because you are exceeding the Quicken requirements.

The requirements are:

Monitor: 1024x768 or higher screen resolution, 1280x1024 minimum for Large Font settings.

But what isn't stated here is that this when the Windows Scaling is at 100%.

To take that into account let's say someone is using a Windows Scaling of 150%, then you would have to multiple the requirement numbers by 1.5, for 200% it would be times 2.

ET99 · September 3

alt-f4 is working, thanks.

I am using windows scaling 125% and have three 24 inch 1080p monitors (1920x1080) side by side. In order to use quicken, I either need the large fonts or have to use a screen magnifier. I could probably get by with a "medium" sized font, but the small fonts is just too small by itself.

I guess the 1080 in the Y direction is the problem, since 1.25x 1024 is likely why the dialogs are off screen.

BTW, the large fonts also present another issue: after an update of any kind, the account lists on the left side begin to think that scrolling is needed (even though they don't actually need to scroll) and obscure the totals to their right. To clear this requires clicking on 4 or 5 of the up/down arrows or closing quicken and restarting.

It also makes the menu items (File, Edit, …) get 1/2 obscured, although still usable at least.

It's about time the large fonts needs to be cleaned up. I've been complaining about this for years now. And I'm only getting older and my vision is getting worse.

Chris_QPW · September 3

There certainly are problems with "Large Fonts" at spots and Quicken Inc could do more to make those dialog so that they aren't a fixed size.

But yeah, right now as it sits that is the problem Large Fonts is nothing more than Quicken (the program) doing its own scaling, but of course only for Quicken. And that just adds to the Windows Scaling.

I'm curious of what you do in other applications? Is the 125% enough with them not scaling inside the application itself?

Given that the fonts in the different applications are the same then it would seem like the solution would be to use normal fonts on Quicken, and up the Windows scaling, at least as far as getting around the bugs in Quicken using large fonts. Clearly if there isn't any room on in the Window for the "too large" dialog in Quicken the only fix is to make them so that they can be sized smaller.

ET99 · September 4

If I go any higher than 125% it messes up all my desktop icons and so I've settled on the 125.

Windows explorer is sometimes difficult to read, but I can make out most things. Menus are a bit small and so I do sometimes need to use a screen magnifier. Sometimes I set my 3rd monitor to a lower res, 1280x720 or so, and drag windows over to it briefly to give me a quick enlargement.

As to other programs, such as the various browsers, they all respond to control-mousewheel to zoom in/out and so I use that. Too bad windows explorer doesn't work with that; instead, it changes between details, tiles, etc.

But the quicken normal font is smaller than pretty much everything else I use. The large font is about the right size for me, and except for the problem with dialogs and the other minor glitches, it does the job. Knowing that I can get out of a dialog with alt-f4 at least lets me shift back to normal fonts and re-run the dialogs instead of having to kill quicken. So, thanks again for that.

Chris_QPW · September 4

Thank for your great description.

I do suggest that for each dialog that you find has this problem to report it on here and with Help → Report a problem.

Giving exact examples is much better than a general statement that the program needs better font handling because it takes away the process of Quicken Inc trying to determine where all the problems are. The users are always going to hit more spots in Quicken than Quicken Inc's testing.

I think a good portion of these problems can be fixed just by making dialogs resizable with scrollbars and remembering the position and size the user used.

ET99 · September 4

I've reported the problems with the minor glitches on every new update for the last 3 years. No response ever. I even provided screen shots.

I've had an online session with a quicken rep who could see my screens, and showed the problem. He said he would report it. No followup however.

This was the first dialog that really was impossible to escape that I really needed to get working. Other's, like the update, when there is an error, or a program update available, I was able to find a way out of the dialog. In that case, the close box showed up on my 2nd monitor.

But I will take your advise and report any new ones I find. Thanks again.

ET99 · September 10

Just found that the preferences dialog cannot be dismissed with large fonts/125% scaling.

Thankfully, alt-f4 got me out, but I don't know if that is a cancel or an ok. It seems like a cancel, so if I had changed any preferences, they probably would not have stuck. I was only going in to prefs to see what my startup page settting was.

Chris_QPW · September 10

alt+F4 is definitely cancel.

ET99 · September 15

thanks for that, I found today that "reports and graphs center" is another dialog on the list that is offscreen to me requiring alt-f4. i've reported it to quicken. I never get any responses from them however.

large fonts make many dialogs unusable, need to kill process to escape

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